MHCLG has launched two new web apps to will help owners improve and extend their properties and are a step towards a fully digital planning system and will save time and money for developers, architects and homeowners by speeding up and simplifying the application process. Many home improvements, such as kitchen extensions and loft conversions, don’t […]

It’s official, DWP Universal Credit will keep paying Landlords money they are not entitled to, wasting Taxpayers money. Benefit tenants, here is another reason (of many) why you can’t secure accommodation any more. Shelter, DWP UC will pay me £20,000 over 3 years, making this Greedy Rich Robbing Parasite Landlord even richer. I’m not entitled […]

Post Lockdown research by  GetAgent.co.uk, indicates that Great Britain’s historic towns have become the most in-demand buying locations in the country, with higher annual price rises than any other type of British town. In the past year, the average house price in Britain has increased 8.2%, from £234,540 in January 2020, to £253,702 in April […]

I am thinking about a Let to Buy mortgage, but rather than looking for a tenant, I am planning to leave our home unoccupied and largely unfinished, seeing it is a flat and insured by the management company. I May need the flat in the future and by not renting, it will be kept in […]

The June Nationwide House price index is indicating year-on-year house price growth of 13.4%, the highest level of house price inflation since November 2004. Monthly inflation is 0.7% showing a slight easing from May’s figure of 1.7% and the average price of a house in the UK now stands at £245,432. Nationwide’s Chief Economist, Robert […]

This quiz will run until the end of July 2021. We will then send a bottle of champagne to the person whose comment we like the most. So, here’s the scenario. A property trader buys a house for £200,000 with cash savings only and immediately flips it achieving a sale price of £300,000. Two years […]

There can be no doubt by any property investor or landlord reading this article that the process of evicting tenants has changed as a direct result of this wretched pandemic. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the term “eviction”, it remains the final outcome for a landlord where for the reasons decreed by Parliament, the […]

One of our landlords has a licenced HMO located in a restrictive dwelling conversion ward. With an Article 4 Declaration in place, no new planning permission is being given for use as a C4 HMO. Not a problem except that this landlord converted the property into 8 unauthorised studio flats and has now been found […]

In Newcastle upon Tyne the local council wish to renew their expiring licensing schemes. After 5 years you would imagine that they would have solved any of the problems that they stated that Landlords were responsible for. Apparently not. I have seen no evidence. In the 5-year period, I have seen no reports on progress […]

The Government has launched an online checker for tenants titled ‘Check how to get repairs done in your rented home.’ Click here to view the page and use the software. The page says: Use this checker to find out: – how to get something fixed by your landlord or letting agent – what to do […]

My letting agent has just worked out that my tenant (A) returned to Romania last year after catching Covid and is still very unwell. He is not returning to Scotland. His brother (B) has been living in the flat, paying the rent and also paying the rent arrears left by the tenant. We only found […]

Hypothetical scenario prompted by another post earlier on Property118: After issuing a S21/S8 the tenant becomes ‘at risk of homelessness’. The Local Authority then has a duty to assess this person’s need once the person asks for help. Is the tenant obligated to tell the Local Authority though that they are now at risk of […]

A Limited-Edition buy-to-let range has now been launched to assist portfolio landlords (landlords with 4 or more properties) with both re-mortgages and new purchases. For single-unit houses and flats, 2 Year Fixed Rates are now starting from 2.75%  and 5 Year Fixed Rates now from 3.10%. For HMOs and Multi-Unit Blocks, 2 Year Fixed Rates […]

The latest NAEA Propertymark  Housing Report for May indicates that the number of properties selling over the asking price beats the all-time record for the second month in a row. In May, 33% of properties sold for more than the original asking price compared to April when 32% sold for more This is fuelled by […]

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the Bank Base Rate at 0.1% and by a majority of 8-1 to continue with its existing programme of UK government bond purchases (QE). Global GDP growth and price pressures in advanced economies have increased further than anticipated reflecting strong demand for goods, […]

Last year, we sought help from Property118 to make contact with landlords who were willing to help us with our research. We were overwhelmed with responses, and I am here taking the opportunity to thank everyone who got in touch. Our research aimed to understand whether there is a sustainable supply of property to the […]

Responding to a new report by the University of York on the supply of private rented housing to tenants in receipt of benefits, a spokesperson for the National Residential Landlords Association said: “No landlord should discriminate against tenants because they are in receipt of benefits. Every tenant’s circumstance is different and so they should be […]

A new report published by York University funded by the Nationwide Foundation says current ‘baby boomer’ landlords ageing out of the PRS are not being replaced by new younger landlords at the same ratio due to diminishing returns and more stringent regulation. Click here to view the report Project lead author, Dr Julie Rugg, said: […]

Is looking to sell a property with a sitting tenant as easy as it sounds? The Local estate agents are useless, and anyway, this is clearly a property for an investor/cash buyer, happy to leave with the current tenant or someone that wants to turn it back into an HMO longer-term (was an HMO previously, […]

I have a small one-bedroom upstairs flat (maisonette) which has a garden. I gave a six-month tenancy to a couple back in March. I normally specify clearly on the advert no pets as the flat isn’t suitable for pets, but didn’t this time around as I recalled reading that you cannot ban pets or children. […]

The new £50 note will start to become available in bank branches and at ATM’s in the coming days and weeks. The 30th September 2022 will be the last day you can use Bank of England paper £20 and £50 notes. After 30 September 2022, these paper notes will no longer be legal tender, so […]